Malaysia Will Have its First High Speed Ferry in 2017

Langkawi will be closer to the mainland as Malaysia is set to have its first high-speed ferry when the service starts operating from Kuala Kedah ferry terminal to Langkawi by July 2017.

The double-decker ferry service to be operated by Sani United Bhd (SUB) through its subsidiary, Sani Ferry Sdn Bhd, is expected to cut travel time to almost 50 per cent.

“It now takes about two hours one-way for a conventional ferry to reach Langkawi from Kuala Kedah terminal, but the high-speed ferry is expected to cut travel time to almost an hour one-way,” said SUB founder Datuk Wan Mohd Sani Salleh at a press conference. The company received from the government a RM3.58 million facilitation fund (US$875,000).

Ferries link Langkawi to the neighbouring island of Penang, Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis in Peninsula Malaysia. Ferry services carried in 2015 some 2.07 million passengers, mostly domestic. The number is down by 5% compared to 2014 when ferries accommodated 2.18 million travellers. Ferry passengers traffic represented last year 57.1% of all arrivals to Langkawi which reached 3.62 million visitors.